Jessica Biel’s Brother, Justin, Launches an Eco-Accessories Line

“My brother is one of those people that I just have total, 100 percent faith in,” says Jessica Biel of the other Justin in her life, her younger sibling Justin Biel. “And I’ve known Grason [Ratowsky, his best friend] since I was in sixth grade. Together they’ve just, I don’t know, always surprised me and done things that were way older than their years.” That includes, but is not limited to, traveling to six continents together and developing an award-winning essential oil business—all by the age of 30.

What the two have going now is the kind of business they’ve been wanting to start for more than a decade. BARE is a socially responsible accessories label handmade in Colorado, where the Biels and Ratowsky grew up, reusing coffee bean sacks. “It’s really a passion project,” Justin says.

BARE was launched after Ratowsky’s dad, an artist who’d been working in Costa Rica with EARTH University, which focuses on sustainable development, brought back a giant java bag for his son. “Who knows why he gives me anything,” Ratowsky says with a laugh. “He’s a wild card and really an inspiration for me. He gave it to me knowing that I would do something with it.” With Justin’s help—in addition to a personal style which his sister describes roughly as “global wanderer with an urban feel,” he brings a background in start-ups and philanthropy like the Make The Difference Network—Ratowsky came up with two tote styles, a backpack and pouch, all unisex and each made from one-of-a-kind recycled material sourced around the world. Going forward, they’re considering upcycling sailboat sails and grain sacks from breweries, too. “We’re also connected with a lot of amazing artists through family,” says Justin who plans to commission work for the cause. A hands-on charitable giving component is also down the road.

At the moment, Jessica, who is a partner in BARE, is the only one to carry a tote. “It’s my set bag,” says the actress who’s filming in Los Angeles. (It’s too early to discuss the movie, she says.) “It has all my scripts, all my stuff, all of my character stuff, it comes with me every day to work.” And as in awe as she is of what her brother and his buddy have achieved, that they’re doing this through an environmental lens is probably the least surprising part. As she says, “We all grew up with the Flatiron mountains right behind us. If you had any brain at all, you would just look outside your window and go ‘Oh wow, this world is something that I want to protect.’”